Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...
Benjamin
Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...
and
Jehu
Jehu (; , meaning "Jah, Yah is He"; ''Ya'úa'' 'ia-ú-a'' ) was the tenth king of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), northern Kingdom of Israel since Jeroboam I, noted for exterminating the house of Ahab. He was the son of Jehoshaphat (father ...
Eyre.
Biography
Manuel Eyre was born in
Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington is a City (New Jersey), city situated on the banks of the Delaware River in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the c ...
, one of five children of George and Mary Eyre.
Career as shipbuilder
He had apprenticed as a
shipwright
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces i ...
to Richard Wright (shipbuilder). On January 8, 1761, he married Mary Wright, daughter of his professional master. His brother Jehu would marry Mary's sister Lydia on December 28 of the same year. Shortly after these marriages, the Eyres would take over the shipyards at
Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
(now part of Philadelphia).
Revolutionary
During the Revolution, the first ships built in the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
were commissioned from the Eyres, the earliest being the gunboat ''Bull Dog'', Philadelphia-built in August 1775.
After independence
After the
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
, he became a member of the Pennsylvania state legislatureStephen Noyes Winslow, ''Biographies of successful Philadelphia merchants'', J. K. Simon, publ., 1864. /ref> and continued to build on his business interests. The Eyre shipping yards that had been so vital to the cause of independence became the international business of Eyre and Massey, one of the largest shipping companies in the world.
One historian writes that, "Their vessels were known in almost every principal port of Europe and Asia, besides the United States and West Indian Islands ...
he company
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads
* He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English
* He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana)
* Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter ca ...
held extensive mercantile intercourse with all parts of the world."
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...
, the fourth
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
, was an acquaintance of Manuel Eyre and spoke of him in his correspondence.
Legacy
He died in 1805 and is interred at Palmer Cemetery in Philadelphia. Manuel's son, Manuel, Jr., would become Director of the
Second Bank of the United States
The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Second Report on Public Credit, Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January ...